This part will be narrated by Rebecca. I've skipped a few days; the main thing that happened was them moving to Henford-on-Bagley.

***

I decided to form a club for musicians. Most of the members were female, although I had invited one male to the club. At our first meeting, he introduced himself as Alex Miller. As I got chatting to him, Elizabeth joined our conversation; I definitely had a bit of a crush on Alex, and Mum and Dad had emphasised to us about the importance of a chaperoned courtship. And anyway, it was an easy way for him to get to know my family.

Once the meeting was over, I decided to write in my prayer journal.

Lord, please help me as I get to know Alex Miller better. Help me also be content with my future, whether Alex turns out to be my husband or not. Amen.

It was soon my birthday! I threw a party, and decided to invite Alex over. Mum made me a cake, and I was keen to blow out the candles!

"You look very pretty today, Rebecca," said Alex.

"Why, thank you!" I replied. "Have you a big family?"

"No, sadly not. I'm an only child. My mother suffered from secondary infertility after having me. She prayed for more babies, but has learnt to be content with just the one child."

"Oh no, that's awful about the infertility," I sympathised. "But yes, being content with what the Lord has given you is important. I would love to be blessed with many children, but if that's not what the Lord has in store for me, I can hopefully be content."

The next day, Alex invited me over to his cottage. Mum had reminded me of the courtship guidelines we'd agreed upon. Front hugging was OK, as was hand-holding. Some families were strict and didn't allow any touching during courtship at all, but Mum and Dad were fine with it, saying that it was only natural to want to touch your partner. I just had to be careful, and they trusted me.

(Rebecca didn't have a chaperone this time, but I kind of considered myself to be the chaperone! )

"So, how's it going with Alex?" Mum asked.

"Great! I really like him, Mum. Hopefully things will continue to go well and we may end up married one day."

"I'm so happy for you! I remember what it was like when I was courting your dad. Obviously I had to be careful, and I prayed a lot, but it's still natural to feel completely in love. You seem to have similar goals in life, which is a great start."

Things were going brilliantly, and the following evening I was invited round to Alex's cottage again.

"Rebecca, I love spending time with you. We're so similar in our outlook on life. I've been praying, and God has consistently put you on my heart as a future wife. Therefore, I would love it if we could spend the rest of our lives together. Will you marry me, Rebecca?"

"Yes, of course!!"

Naturally, the first person I told was Mum. She was delighted with the news.

We decided to get married at Myshuno Meadows in San Myshuno. I had found a lovely, modest wedding dress with three-quarter-length lacy sleeves. 

The whole family! Elizabeth is the one on the far left, standing up. She decided to wear her hair down for the wedding. The guy in the middle is Daniel, who's a teenager. 

We shared our first kiss at the altar! It was so amazing to finally be able to kiss Alex. It was worth waiting!

"Oh, I can't believe that my oldest child is now married! Gosh, I feel so old," Mum laughed.

"I know, I can hardly believe it myself!" I replied. 

The next morning, I went to the bathroom...

"Oh! I'm pregnant!" I grinned, looking at the positive test.

I decided to change my look and went for a casual top and denim skirt. I wasn't in work, of course, so I filled my days with practising the violin.

Time flew by, and I soon went into labour. I ended up delivering TWINS! Wow, twins as my first children would be a challenge. But, of course, God would help me in my parenting journey. I named them Alice and Anna.

We owned a hen and a rooster, and I made sure to keep them fed, which was much less stressful than dealing with the twins!

Soon, I discovered I was expecting again!

I was grateful when the twins aged up. Alice, who's in pink, looks a lot like me with her green eyes and brown hair. Anna, meanwhile, looks just like her dad, with brown eyes and blonde hair! 

I decided to take the twins over to meet their grandma. 

"Oh, they're adorable!" Mum smiled. "Alice looks so much like you."

"Yes, I know. And Anna looks like Alex. Aren't genetics interesting?"

"They are. I never really understood biology when I was in school, it wasn't my best subject."

Alex and I agreed that our cottage was far too small, so we were happy to be able to move to a bigger property in Brindleton Bay. It would be difficult for me not to be near my family, but I knew the importance of "leave and cleave." We each tucked in a twin on the first night in the new house.

Ah, who knew how dirty toddlers could become? Bathing was fun in the sense that the girls loved playing in the water, but not so fun in the sense that I often got very wet...

We now had the space to own a cow and a llama. I learnt that you could shave llamas to obtain wool! Perhaps I should take up knitting and put it to good use.

Our third child was also a girl, and we named her Ava. She inherited my brown hair and Alex's brown eyes. I'm keen to see what my next blessing will look like!